[Coral-List] Don't be such a scientist
Eugene Shinn
eshinn at marine.usf.edu
Mon Jan 9 10:39:46 EST 2012
I missed the 60 minutes program because I was at sea when it aired. I
nevertheless wonder if they discussed any of the scientific issues
presented in the WSJ (below). or the lengthy technical presentation
at http://co2science.org/subject/o/acidificationphenom.php. Gene
>>Source: WSJ
>>[SPPI Note: More in-depth papers on this issue can be found at the
>>SPPI website:
>>C02 Science's Ocean Acidification Database
>>Quantifying the Effects of Ocean Acidification on Marine Organisms
>>Effects of Ocean Acidification on Marine Ecosystems
>>Answers to a Fisherman's Testimony about Ocean Acidification
>>EPA's Role in Protecting Ocean Health Should Focus on the
>>"Here-and-Now" Threats
>>See also CO2 Science website for reviewed papers on the topic
>>
>>***************************
>>WSJ text beings here:
>>Coral reefs around the world are suffering badly from overfishing
>>and various forms of pollution. Yet many experts argue that the
>>greatest threat to them is the acidification of the oceans from the
>>dissolving of man-made carbon dioxide emissions.
>>
>>The effect of acidification, according to J.E.N. Veron, an
>>Australian coral scientist, will be "nothing less than
>>catastrophic.... What were once thriving coral gardens that
>>supported the greatest biodiversity of the marine realm will become
>>red-black bacterial slime, and they will stay that way."
>>Humans have placed marine life under pressure, but the chief
>>culprits are overfishing and pollution.
>>
>>This is a common view. The Natural Resources Defense Council has
>>called ocean acidification "the scariest environmental problem
>>you've never heard of." Sigourney Weaver, who narrated a film about
>>the issue, said that "the scientists are freaked out." The head of
>>the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration calls it global
>>warming's "equally evil twin."
>>
>>But do the scientific data support such alarm? Last month
>>scientists at San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography and
>>other authors published a study showing how much the pH level
>>(measuring alkalinity versus acidity) varies naturally between
>>parts of the ocean and at different times of the day, month and
>>year.
>>
>>"On both a monthly and annual scale, even the most stable open
>>ocean sites see pH changes many times larger than the annual rate
>>of acidification," say the authors of the study, adding that
>>because good instruments to measure ocean pH have only recently
>>been deployed, "this variation has been under-appreciated." Over
>>coral reefs, the pH decline between dusk and dawn is almost half as
>>much as the decrease in average pH expected over the next 100
>>years. The noise is greater than the signal.
>>
>>Another recent study, by scientists from the U.K., Hawaii and
>>Massachusetts, concluded that "marine and freshwater assemblages
>>have always experienced variable pH conditions," and that "in many
>>freshwater lakes, pH changes that are orders of magnitude greater
>>than those projected for the 22nd-century oceans can occur over
>>periods of hours."
>>
>>This adds to other hints that the ocean-acidification problem may
>>have been exaggerated. For a start, the ocean is alkaline and in no
>>danger of becoming acid (despite headlines like that from Reuters
>>in 2009: "Climate Change Turning Seas Acid"). If the average pH of
>>the ocean drops to 7.8 from 8.1 by 2100 as predicted, it will still
>>be well above seven, the neutral point where alkalinity becomes
>>acidity.
>>
>>The central concern is that lower pH will make it harder for
>>corals, clams and other "calcifier" creatures to make calcium
>>carbonate skeletons and shells. Yet this concern also may be
>>overstated. Off Papua New Guinea and the Italian island of Ischia,
>>where natural carbon-dioxide bubbles from volcanic vents make the
>>sea less alkaline, and off the Yucatan, where underwater springs
>>make seawater actually acidic, studies have shown that at least
>>some kinds of calcifiers still thrive-at least as far down as pH
>>7.8.
>>
>>In a recent experiment in the Mediterranean, reported in Nature
>>Climate Change, corals and mollusks were transplanted to lower pH
>>sites, where they proved "able to calcify and grow at even faster
>>than normal rates when exposed to the high [carbon-dioxide] levels
>>projected for the next 300 years." In any case, freshwater mussels
>>thrive in Scottish rivers, where the pH is as low as five.
>>
>>Laboratory experiments find that more marine creatures thrive than
>>suffer when carbon dioxide lowers the pH level to 7.8. This is
>>because the carbon dioxide dissolves mainly as bicarbonate, which
>>many calcifiers use as raw material for carbonate.
>>
>>Human beings have indeed placed marine ecosystems under terrible
>>pressure, but the chief culprits are overfishing and pollution. By
>>comparison, a very slow reduction in the alkalinity of the oceans,
>>well within the range of natural variation, is a modest threat, and
>>it certainly does not merit apocalyptic headlines.
>>
>>******************************
--
No Rocks, No Water, No Ecosystem (EAS)
------------------------------------ -----------------------------------
E. A. Shinn, Courtesy Professor
University of South Florida
College of Marine Science Room 221A
140 Seventh Avenue South
St. Petersburg, FL 33701
<eshinn at marine.usf.edu>
Tel 727 553-1158----------------------------------
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